when we got delilah they told us she had arthritis and couldnt canter. needless to say, a week of being outside she was galloping around like a maniac. molly thought she couldnt jump because she tried to jump a strand of out electric fence, and broke it down. so i was lunging jasper one day over a 1 foot jump, and i told her we should just try delilah over them. first we tried a 6" bench we had but it was upside down and so it was about an inch tall and 6" wide. she trotted over it no problem. so we turned it up so it was 6" and she did fine over that. i was using cinder blocks and a pvc pipe with jasper and so i told molly to try her over that. molly was afraid that delilah would fall, but the only thing that would happen is she would knock the pole off.... here are pics from today the 3rd day of jumping.

Um... Just because someone (or a horse in this case) is having some good days it does not mean the arthritis is not there and not an issue.

I will use my old dog as an example.

She has arthritis for sure. Confirmed by x-rays.
98% of the time you will see her walking around looking like an old dog.
The other 2% of the time she wants to play and have fun and she does, heck with the discomfort. She darts around and leaps and pounces with the other dogs. And then back to old dog again.

An older horse with arthritis might be able to jump things. But in the big picture of life it is probably not best to ask her to keep jumping over and over and over again.

when we got delilah they told us she had arthritis and couldnt canter. needless to say, a week of being outside she was galloping around like a maniac. molly thought she couldnt jump because she tried to jump a strand of out electric fence, and broke it down. so i was lunging jasper one day over a 1 foot jump, and i told her we should just try delilah over them. first we tried a 6" bench we had but it was upside down and so it was about an inch tall and 6" wide. she trotted over it no problem. so we turned it up so it was 6" and she did fine over that. i was using cinder blocks and a pvc pipe with jasper and so i told molly to try her over that. molly was afraid that delilah would fall, but the only thing that would happen is she would knock the pole off.... here are pics from today the 3rd day of jumping.

Arthritis??? I Think Not!!!

Jumping three days in a row? Please - the poor horse still needs more groceries and muscle.

we have been lunging her for like 2 weeks and we know she is skinny, we have been working on that. shes happy to be doing this, we are not forcing her at all. please, im not asking for a critique here, happy positive comments.^^ and she is not a poor little horse, she is happy as a pig in a pig pen.

she has never had an arthritic day in the 1.5 years we have owned her. she gallops around every day and is not arthritic at all. it was never confirmed by a vet. they said she had it bc they kept her in a stall for 2 years. never let out, now she is out side all the time

she could be in discomfort. her ears are back in every photo. Jumping a horse three days in a row over some low jumps wont do much to hurt them, may even help her with muscle. but jumping things like benches and such can be dangerous...

if shes not lame after jumping she might only have mild arthritus. its most noticable in winter when the ground is hard, so keep a look out. did the vet diagnose her/ do a flexion test or anything? remember neither you nor her previous owner are vets, so she really might very well still have arthritus or she might not.

if you notice, some of the pics her ears are up, and they are not flat back. and if is is uncomfortable why is she doing it? if you notice my sister is giving her plenty of line to swerve if she wants to. i wasnt looking for people to bash us saying that she looks unhappy and things like "Please - the poor horse still needs more groceries and muscle". i CAN'T feel her ribs and of course she doesnt have muscle like most peoples horses, she isnt in training and we dont ride every day, maybe 2-3x a week walking half a mile. she is just a back yard pleasure horse.

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